Italian Essentials

Essential greetings according to About.com
Salve! (Hello)
Buon giorno (Good morning)
Buona sera (good evening)
Come sta? (How are you?)
Grazie, va bene cosi (fine, thank you)

Juggling T-Shirt

Here's the design I'm thinking of putting on my juggling t-shirt for Italy.

Another Visit From Hadrian

25 days until I leave for Rome.
Hadrian visited me again last night. This time he was wearing a utilikilt with an I heart New York shirt on. I guess he's been travelling...

I was having trouble thinking of why Hadrian would build the Pantheon, so I decided to ask him myself. I was a bit surprised when he said, "I had an idea, and the resources to flesh it out. So, I went with it." I thought maybe he had this really big agenda; a big plan for why he built the Pantheon. I got a more interesting reason when I asked why he came up with his design. He told me he was tired of all the old Roman buildings, and wanted something new that would be distinctly his and show the Romans who's boss.

Apparently Hadrian was very busy, because before I could say anything further he ran out my door, caught a yellow cab, and headed off (presumably to Coney Island for some hot dogs or something...).

Well, now that I had the emperor's own opinion about why he built the Pantheon the way he did, I can start figuring out how I'm going to prove that Hadrian built the Pantheon to show the Roman Emprie who's boss. Too bad I can't cite what he told me...

Che cosa sto andando fare a Italia

30 days until I leave for Rome

I'm starting to flesh out more what I want to do in Italy:

1. Juggle 5 clubs for 100 catches next to the statue in the campo de Fiori
2. Visit the Roman forum at midnight
3. Take a photo from inside the pantheon when it rains
4. Take a photo of myself juggling 3 balls at the top of the Duomo.
5. Go to the Duomo in the morning, find a place to sit, and just examine.
6. Wade or swim in the waters of a beach near Ostia.
7. Eat a pizza at Da Michelle (Via Cesare Sersale, 1-3) in Naples.
8. Eat gelato at 1 am in Rome.
9. Juggle 5 balls in Pompeii.
1o. Go out to the Market at the Campo at least once a week with Shannon and my fellow roomies and make a scrumptious lunch. Also, make the spicy spaghetti I made with Shannon earlier this summer.

How I am preparing for this:
1. working on outlining my essay outline about the Pantheon.
2. Learning about different trains in Italy, and how to get tickets (I am thinking the best bet for me is probably an InterCity train, or a night train).
3. Looking at the different places in Italy that I will most likely be (Florence, Rome, Naples).
4. Getting camera ready.
5. Working on 5 clubs every day.

A nice overview website

I found a nice wikisite which gives a good "tourist's view" of Italy: http://wikitravel.org/en/Italy. It's especially useful for explaining the train services. I think I want to take a ride on a Treni Notte (night train) some time while in Italy. It sounds like it'd be fun.

manipolazione

manipolazione: That's what they call juggling in Italy. I will definitely be doing a lot there. My 5 club has been getting more solid, which is good for Rome!

Basic Items

Vestiti (Clothes)
Articoli de toeletta (Toiletries)
Randelli del Roba di Tecnologica (Technology Stuff)
Clubs
Guitar (forse)
And that's it!

Hopefully I'll be able to fit everything (except the guitar and clubs) in one bag.

After Florence

34 days until I leave for Rome.

Here's what I'm thinking of doing for the 3 days off I have after Florence:
Hop on a train to Venice (about 3 hours, or perhaps take the night train to save even more time).
Spend one or two days in Venice, visiting the usual hotspots plus Murano and Burano (my two favorite Venetian islands).
On the way back to Rome (About 7 hours), stop by in Padua for about half a day (supposedly the intellectual hub of Italy).
Come back to Rome exhausted, but satisfied.


OR

From Florence, go back to Rome, and keep going to Naples (about 4 hours) to get a feel for Southern Italy.
Spend 2 days in Naples, eating Naopolitan pizza (which I heard is very good), visting Mt. Vesuvius and Pompei.
Head back to Rome (about 2 hours)


Right now I'm leaning more towards the Naples route, mostly because there is less travel time, Venice is a swarming hive of tourists which I'd like to avoid, and I'd really like to get a taste for Southern Italy. Plus, I feel like the trip to Naples would be less hectic.

A Dialogue

35 days until I leave for Rome

Hadrian: Suoni uno strumento?
Me: Si, suono la chittara.
Hadrian: Canti?
Me: No, mia chitarra canta per me.

Well, that's what I'll say if anyone ever asks me if I play guitar. I hope they don't actually ask me to play it, though, because I'm not very good yet. I don't think Hadrian ever played guitar, but he was an avid artist, soldier, diplomat, and architect. Talk about a well-rounded person!

Also, it turns out Hadrian was quite the rebel. Instead of shaving (as was the custom for Roman emperors at the time), Hadrian had a beard. Perhaps this rebellious nature can account for the unorthodox design of the Pantheon.

Rome From Above

Top: The picture is small, but this is an aerial shot of the Rome center, my Hotel before I get there, and of course, where I will be juggling.

Bottom:If you look really hard, you can see the blue-ish line (connected by the green and red arrow signs) that will be the path I take when I go from the Fiumucino airport to Campo de Fiori. The green arrow is the airport, the red is campo.

Special thanks to Google for the photos.

My phrase for today is: "E molto impresionante" which means, "that's super awesome".

36 days until I leave for Rome.

5 Clubs

37 days until I leave from Rome:

Today all I did to get ready was practice 5 clubs, as usual. It's a pathetic start, and my juggling wasn't even that good. I was incredibly busy, however. I hope the rest of my days won't be this pathetic.

I started looking at this really cool article on the geometry of the pantheon's vault, but that doesn't really count since I'd found it before.

My Dream

Last night, I dreamed that as I was sitting in my little office in the CS building, Hadrian knocked on my door, and of course I let him in. He had curly hair just like in the photos, but for some reason was wearing a leather jacket, tight jeans, and a cowboy hat. After learning that I wasn't doing much to get ready for Rome, Hadrian reared back and bellowed, "Juggling fool! You will not do justice to the city of Rome if you do not prepare! I see that you are not capable of getting ready on your own. So I challenge you to do something to get ready for Rome every day, and record it somewhere!". Before I had a chance to reply, Hadrian got sucked into my computer screen and was gone forever. Pretty soon I too felt a tug from my computer screen. It got stronger and stronger until I could no longer resist its pull, and I got sucked in too.

But I don't know what happened after that because I woke up.

Anyway, I think Hadrian had some good advice there, and I think I'll follow up on it starting today.

What I'm Going to do in Rome

I don't know what exactly I'm going to do, but I do know I will do the following things:
1. Juggle 100 catches of 5 clubs in the Campo de Fiori (this will require quite a bit of practice, but I hope I can manage).
2. Go to the Roman Forum at midnight.
3. Write gelato reviews.
4. Go to Venice and Tuscany.
5. Document my adventures through photos.

Welcome Mat

This Blogs welcome mat says:

"Welcome. I will try to keep my posts short so as to not waste your precious time. See above for more information."